


Hallway

by maydayparade8123



Series: Punk!Percy Adventures [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-21 13:20:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maydayparade8123/pseuds/maydayparade8123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The third addition. It's kind of boring since I'm setting up more of a plot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hallway

Annabeth was confused.

The past few days, Percy Jackson—the one with four piercings, a condescending tone, and a certain fondness for the word “fuck"—had been treating her like an old friend. In some ways, that was true; she recalled the notes and flowers and even a song, for Christ’s sake. Still, she didn’t consider them “old friends" of any kind, since Percy had seemed overbearing and maybe even a little weird as he went all out to impress her. Now, she was kicking herself for not dating him back when he wanted her to.)

In the present moment, she was working on a rough draft for an essay due the next week. Her teacher, who was going through her own stress of at least two hundred English II projects to grade, had allotted her first period students a free period to work on anything english related. That, she had said, included reading or writing, butnot talking. That went without saying, however; their class was so early in the morning that hardly anyone felt like revving up a conversation.

Percy was acting different, as noticed by the blond sitting four seats away. He didn’t have his headphones in, and he always wore them—even after the multiple times Mrs. Short had pleaded with him to stop breaking school rules. He wasn’t looking around the room idly, as if watching others do work got his work done for him. She stole glances at him both curiously and childishly. The typical Annabeth Chase would have assertively asked him if something was upsetting him, but the look on his face stopped her. It wasn’t blank as if he weren’t feeling anything. It was blank as if he were forcing himself not to show emotion.

His eyes seemed to be miles away as he stared out the window silently. She recalled meeting his gaze on the first day back from summer break—the way they’d been incredibly blue when she could have sworn they were much greener in the years prior. Now, as he downcast his eyes, she saw a flash of the piercing emerald—something that had been vastly unappreciated by her every time he shot smiles her way sophomore year.

Silena Beauregard cleared her throat loudly, making Annabeth jump and making half the class send the black-haired girl odd looks. She smiled pleasantly until all eyes were averted before looking Annabeth over skeptically. “Look, I know we aren’t great friends or anything, but would you like some advice?"

"On what?" the blond questioned, peering down at her outfit. “I mean, you’re wearing a v-neck, too—"

"Stop staring." Annabeth’s eyes unconsciously glanced at the sullen boy seats away. Snapping her fingers in front of Annabeth’s face, Silena whispered a urgent, “Stop it!"

"Don’t tell me what to do," the stubborn girl replied on reflex. “I’m not staring, anyways."

"Yeah, okay," Silena said, piling on the sarcasm. “Drooling over boys is never attractive.Talk to him. Initiate the conversation. Flirt."

"I don’t need to—"

"Percy!" Silena whispered sharply, gaining his attention. He raised his eyebrows in question. “Annabeth needs to ta—"

"I don’t actually," the now slightly irritated girl said, a bit louder, with a tight smile. Percy just looked confused before shrugging and deciding to put his head down due to the utter lack of giving a fuck. Glaring at Silena, Annabeth sighed loudly. “Thanks for your help, but I’m fine."

The blue-eyed teen shrugged a shoulder as if to say ‘suit yourself’ and picked up her copy of the latest Nicholas Sparks book.

Feeling foolish for the whole fiasco, Annabeth glanced at the front of the room and met eyes with Mrs. Short, who was giving her a slight frown. She brought her index finger up to her lips silently, looking every bit like a grumpy library lady. Setting her sights on her paper once more, she made a point to not look at Percy or Mrs. Short for the rest of the period.

When the bell rang, she packed up slowly to ensure the organization of her bag. Most kids folded up their papers or shoved them haphazardly in the abysses they tended to call backpacks, but she refused to let bad habits as well as messes build.

"Ms. Chase," she heard, along with the distinct clicking of heels on tile. Annabeth looked up after sliding her binder into her backpack. “I need to speak with you about a few things."

Sighing, Annabeth tried to let shame show on her face. “I’m so sorry for talking in class. It was completely—"

Mrs. Short laughed good-naturedly and shook her head. It seemed like a whole different teacher from the disgruntled one who made an appearance earlier in class. “What do you have next period?"

"Just art," the blond replied, still feeling her palms sweat out of nerves. “I’m caught up on all of my work, plus we’re supposed to have a sub for the next two days. Mr. J’s wife is due sometime today or tomorrow, I think. Is there something I did wrong…?"

"Absolutely not," Mrs. Short said. “As the head of the English Department, I’m allowed to select three of my most apt students and present them with an opportunity: becoming a tutor." Annabeth opened her mouth to refuse, but Mrs. Short carried on. “I know, it seems like a bad idea. However, thinking in terms of college, this opportunity would look great on your application. It’s only for an hour after school every Tuesday and Thursday."

Her few words about how it would enhance her college admissions made Annabeth hesitate. As far as college went, the only thing she had to show was her outstanding academics and two first place art show ribbons from the previous year. “Who would I be working with? And what subjects?"

The teacher seemed to think for a moment. “I’m almost positive that you’ll be placed in a classroom with freshman. Many in the upcoming class tend to either sign up themselves or get forced into it due to poor grades. Freshman often have a hard time transitioning from the middle school workload to the high school workload, as I’m sure you know.” Annabeth nodded. “As far as which courses, it’ll most likely range all core classes—English, Math, History and Science—but you can request not to help in, say, Social Studies if you wish."

Annabeth nodded in relief. Now that she was considering it, staying after school for an hour, even if it was a mere two days out of the week, would take a little more stress off her parents to rush home from work. “When do the sessions start?"

"Three weeks from now," Mrs. Short replied. “We decided to let the school year get started up before offering tutoring. You would be an asset for us; your grades from previous years prove that."

"I’d love the opportunity," she found herself saying. “It never hurts to spruce up a college application, right?"

Mrs. Short clapped her hands. “Wonderful! I’ll be sure to keep you updated on any information I get. Here"—she passed Annabeth a paper—"are the forms you fill out in order to become a trusted tutor for our afterschool program. The information on the first page should answer most of your questions."

The teenager let her eyes scan over the pages, nodding to herself. “Thank you, for picking me, and everything."

"No problem, Ms. Chase! Now, can I write you a note to Mr. Johnson’s class?"

School days went on and Percy’s off mood seemed to fade away. He even had the audacity to say “looking good, Annabeth" when she wore an uncharacteristic dress to school for the sake of a presentation in her history class. She almost wished she would have asked him what was wrong when he’d been pensive for an entire week. The way his eyes had seemed different—less guarded, maybe? Vulnerable?—had her wondering about the look for days on end.

It was five days before her first tutoring session. It would be with what Mrs. Short politely called a “troubled" child, but Annabeth was expecting the worst. He’d probably pull a knife on her for correcting a grammar mistake.

She continued to fret over just what Mrs. Short meant by “troubled" as she hurried down the hall towards her locker. Dropping by it was cutting into her lunch time, which was the only time during the school day that she allowed herself to be laid back and breathe. Pulling out the two textbooks weighing her backpack down, she pushed them into her already jam-packed locker. After arranging the books in haphazard positions, she shut her locker quickly and leaned against it, securing the lock.

"That’s quite a process."

Annabeth jumped, oh, thirty feet in the air. Spinning around to see Percy, with his hands in his pockets and his natural smirk shining through, she chuckled uncomfortably. Pulling her cardigan closer to her, she nodded. “Lots of books."

"You could always borrow my locker," Percy said, removing his headphones. “Not like I keep any books in there anyways."

"Slacker," Annabeth commented, leaning against her locker.

He shrugged half-heartedly, moving to stand next to her. Percy looked hesitant and confused, like he couldn’t decide what to say. “Uh… sorry for being distant, I guess. I know it’s a little weird that I’m apologizing, since we aren’t exactly friends, but I feel like… I think I was giving you the idea that we could be, then I just started ignoring you. Ignoring everyone."

"Don’t worry about it," Annabeth said, feeling like she could blush. “I, uh, hardly noticed."

"I don’t know if that’s good or bad," Percy said, after staying quiet for a few seconds. He ran one hand through his hair; from the black roots to the indigo tips. As if he planned on staying for a while, he clumsily slid down the lockers and slid his iPod out of his pocket. “Ever listen to Brand New?"

"I haven’t," she said, opting to stay standing. “I’ve never even heard of them."

"They’re pretty good. My current favorite band, anyways," Percy told her, scrolling through what looked like an endless music library. He looked up at her, moving the metal ring through his lip with his teeth. “Are you gonna sit down or are you gonna stand up and be stubborn?"

She scowled. “I was considering sitting, but now I refuse to out of spite."

Percy laughed, abruptly and loudly as if he hadn’t planned on laughing at all. She decided it was his best laugh, regardless of the fact that she’d hardly hung around him long enough to hear every version of his laughter. “Come on, Annabeth," he reasoned. “Here I am, trying to make up for the fact that I’ve been a dick and there you are rejecting me." Percy sent her an almost shy look before adding a few more words under his breath. “Rejecting me. Just like old times…"

Sighing, she slid down the lockers—a hell of a lot more gracefully than he had. “That was before we knew each other."

"And we do now?" he challenged, turning and looking at her, only to glance away almost immediately after he noticed the proximity. “What’s my favorite color?"

Glancing at his hair, she confidently replied, “Blue."

"Okay," Percy said, smiling. “Bad question. Still, it’s not my point." He passed her a headphone, and she wondered whether or not they were even allowed to lounge in the hallway during lunch. “Is that, uh…" he trailed off as if he lost his courage. “Is that why you said no every time? Because we didn’t know each other?"

Annabeth kept her expression passive, listening to the song for a few seconds while she pondered an answer. “Maybe a little," she decided with a shrug. “More like I don’t have time for a relationship." Plus, she added silently, you were just like every other normal guy at our school. Conformity is the least attractive thing.

"Everyone has time for love," he disagreed, sounding disgustingly close to Annabeth’s stepmother who often urged her to get out into the dating world. “Some people just don’t want it."

"I need to go to finish school before even attempting a relationship," she said shortly, beyond finished with the conversation.

"Maybe," Percy mumbled, turning on a new song that sounded vaguely similar to the first one. “It could just be what you’re telling yourself to sleep at night."

Annabeth sighed loudly and he just looked at her. By the way her jaw was clenching, he figured he’d gotten at least a portion of that right. She sent him a glare and he nervously pulled on his lip ring. “Sorry. Anyways, uh, this is Brand New."

She nodded distractedly and he grinned, knowing her attention was on his mouth. “Thinking about kissing me?"

"Just"—she blushed furiously as the weight of his sentence settled on her, praying that her tan skin was doing it’s job—"stop with the lip ring."

Percy laughed. “That’s like me telling you to ‘stop’ with your eyes or something."

"Completely different," she argued. “You actually can stop being all… sensual, for lack of a better term. I can’t stop having eyes."

"You could. Get ‘em gouged out." She made a face at him and he raised an eyebrow. "Sensual, though? I like the sound of that."

"Did the arrogance come along with your emo phase?" Annabeth questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"Not a phase. Also, I’m not ‘emo’. I’m punk. Vast difference. Worlds away, really." She rolled her eyes and pressed the headphone closer to her ear to hear a little better, accidentally making Percy’s fall out. “Fuck," he said simply, reaching for it and placing in back in. “Hate to break it to you, but if we both plan on hearing this song, you’re going to have to move closer."

"Or you could," she grumbled, scooting maybe two inches closer. “Who’s this?" It was definitely a different sound from the two previous songs. She briefly wondered about how Piper was doing, eating lunch alone, but surely her friend would understand when she explained later, maybe. As far as Annabeth could tell, Piper wasn’t incredibly fond of the boy next to her.

"It’s… Emarosa."

"Nice voice," Annabeth commented.

"Thank you," Percy said, placing his hand over his chest in mock astonishment. “That’s just the sweetest."

"I was talking about the band." She said drily, barely managing to withhold a smile and Percy chuckled beside her. They both stayed silent, listening to most of the song before he clicked on another one. “They sound so—"

The bell cut her off, making both of them jump slightly as they returned to reality from Music Land. Percy placed his hand over his heart and leaned his head back against the lockers, laughing breathlessly. “I’ve just experienced a heart attack."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, smiling begrudgingly and handing him back his headphone. Percy nodded his thanks and stood up in unison with her. Slipping her backpack over her shoulder, she gave him a small smile. “Thanks for the music."

"Anytime," he replied, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ll see you later."

She waved and turned her back on him, walking with a purpose towards her next class, deciding that it was a lunch well-wasted.


End file.
